


Bullets in Bloom

by BM Vagaybond (MintSharpie)



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Fake AH Crew, Fluff, Freewood - Freeform, Gavin/Dan bromance, Heist, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-25
Updated: 2015-04-25
Packaged: 2018-03-25 15:32:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3815641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MintSharpie/pseuds/BM%20Vagaybond
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan helps Gavin take a risk in a very creative way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bullets in Bloom

**Author's Note:**

> This is dedicated to agendernickcarraway/ryanthepowerbottomguy over on tumblr, for giving me the idea.
> 
> Image source: http://www.reddit.com/r/woahdude/comments/2y419q/hollow_point_flower/

“Cheers, B,” Gavin said, looking over the invoice. Dan briefly turned from supervising the delivery to grin at his friend.

“Don’t say that ‘til we’re eating their dust,” the crooked soldier muttered so only Gavin could hear. “These tossers have a nasty habit of changing the deal at the last second.”

“We’ve worked with them before.”

“Never drop your guard, B. That’s when they get you.”

A few metres away, Geoff was offering a heavy briefcase to his opposite number. The shady arms dealer put it on the table and ruffled through stacks of cash, verifying that it was all there. Satisfied, he snapped down the lid and locked it.

“A pleasure as always, Mister Ramsey,” he said, thick accent making the words rich and a little oily. “ _Idemo_!” he called to his men, summoning them to leave. They stacked a final two boxes and piled into their vehicle, driving from the warehouse just as suddenly as they’d come. Once they were gone Geoff relaxed from his ramrod-straight posture, and turned to the younger men with a grimace.

“Dicks,” he grumbled. “Always hiking up the price.”

“I’d never do that to you, boss,” Dan said cheekily. “Would like to get paid sometime this year, though.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Jack picked them up, taking one box of their new armor-piercing ammo along for immediate use. She and Geoff made a point of ignoring the Brits’ incessant chatter from the backseat, disappearing with relief once they returned to the Crew’s high-rise apartment. The younger men, left to their own devices, proceeded to do what they always did when Dan was on leave.

“Swimmy bevs?”

“Absolutely.”

Two bathing suits, three shots, and a six-pack later they were sprawled poolside, looking out over the twinkling city. The roof was still baked from a day in the Los Santos heat, making their icy beers all the more refreshing. Stress melted out of their shoulders until they reached a state of satisfied contentment, warm with alcohol and safe in each other’s presence. Even hyperactive Gavin grew a little quieter, looking up at the stars thoughtfully while cool water lapped at his feet.

“Hey, Dan?”

“Yeah, B?”

“It’s Ryan’s birthday next week.”

Dan propped himself up on his elbows and looked down at his friend. “Big occasion. You gonna spill the beans, finally?”

“Maybe. But I haven’t got a present for him, and I don’t want to look like a bloody twit.”

“You _are_ a twit,” Dan said, raising his bottle to take a sip. Gavin’s lazy swat nearly knocked it from his hands.

“Come on, B, I’m serious here.”

“Someone call the damn press,” his friend muttered. But Gavin turned on the puppy-dog eyes, making Dan sigh and put down the drink. “Look, what do you want from me? I don’t spend every day with the guy, I don’t know what he likes. It’s all murder and bloody weird makeup, as far as I can tell.”

The hacker breathed the shadow of a laugh and tucked an arm behind his head. “Well… he’s got a load of potted plants at home.”

“Then he’ll probably like roses, why’re you still worrying?”

“Are you mental?” Gavin squawked. “That’s way too sappy, I’ll look pathetic.”

Dan shook his head, biting back another insult to his friend’s character. “What else, then?”

“Um…” Gavin worried his lip between his teeth, thinking. “He helps out in the server room sometimes, so I guess he likes computers. Reading. That supercar he’s got, the black and green one. And he’s big into guns, but so’re the rest of us. I just… I can’t think of anything that’s thoughtful _and_ … y’know…” he trailed off, looking embarrassed.

“Romantic?” Dan filled in, raising an eyebrow suggestively. Gavin blushed.

“Basically.”

They sat in silence for a moment, pondering. Dan watched the water’s surface, illuminated by the pool’s recessed lights, rippling gently as it shifted in patches of turquoise and blue. He had an idea; it was hiding just at the edge of his mind, something that struck just the right balance between sentimentality and the toughness the Crew’s lifestyle demanded. Weapons… flowers… a sign of affection…

“Got it,” he declared, sitting up straight. “Where’s your pistol?”

Gavin also rose, and looked strangely at him. “Right there,” he answered, waving vaguely towards where it lay on the deck. “Why?”

The smuggler grinned mischievously. “What’s in the magazine, hollow points?”

“I think so,” the hacker said, still confused. “What’re you on about, B?”

“Oh, you’re gonna love this,” Dan gloated. “Give it here.”

Gavin handed it over, eyes narrowed suspiciously. They went wide in shock as his friend slid bodily into the pool, taking the gun with him.

“What the hell, Dan?! That’s my favourite, you’re gonna cock it all up!”

“Trust me, Gav. I’m about to land you a boyfriend.”

He sank until only his head was above the surface, holding the gold-trimmed pistol underwater. Twelve muffled shots rang out in succession.

“There, you can have this back,” Dan said, returning the weapon to dry land. “Clean it as soon as we get inside and it’ll be fine.”

He dove to the bottom of the pool as Gavin looked on incredulously. He searched the tile for several minutes, occasionally breaking the surface to drop a handful of slugs onto the deck. Eventually he found them all, and dragged himself out of the water just as pleased as could be.

“Take a look,” he offered proudly, sluicing off his scruffy face. Gavin picked up one of the bullets and began to inspect it, realization slowly dawning.

Each slug had peeled open from the tip, forming a six-pointed blossom of lead. The copper jacket had opened, too, supporting the softer metal and giving the whole thing the appearance of a flower in full bloom. It was, in a strange and deadly way, quite beautiful.

Just like Ryan.

“It’s perfect,” Gavin breathed, taking several in hand at once. The sharp edges scratched at his skin like thorns.

“Get some heavy wire, and you can solder them onto stems. It’ll make a lovely little bouquet,” Dan suggested. Maybe it was the alcohol, but he felt a fuzzy joy as he watched his friend’s face. He smiled softly. “Never say I don’t do anything for you, B.”

Gavin looked up at him gratefully, eyes shining. “Cheers, B.”

* * *

 

The day had come. Unfortunately, it was the only opportunity to pull off a job they’d been planning for months: their target wouldn’t be this exposed again any time in the foreseeable future. The preparation, execution, and post-heist escape would have left little time for a party even under the best conditions. And being the Fake AH Crew, of course, their conditions were never the best.

It didn’t go quite as pear-shaped as it could have, but it was still a nerve-wracking mess. There were more guards around the loot than their information had specified, too many for even a simultaneous hit by Ray, Ryan, and Michael to take out. It turned into a trainwreck, with their sniper having to flee on his own while Jack picked up both the armored truck _and_ the two gunmen with her cargo helicopter. They only barely escaped the police choppers by shooting them out of the sky, but not before getting strafed enough to make their aircraft start to smoke.

It wasn’t until they’d landed at the rendezvous that anyone noticed Ryan had been hit. He’d taken two bullets in the leg, and one in his side where his armor plates didn’t quite meet. Michael rapidly threw the take into the back of Geoff’s car and Jack burned rubber to Caleb’s clinic. Ryan remained stoic while his crewmates kept pressure on his wounds, insisting he’d had worse. It was probably true, but didn’t stop the others from worrying.

Gavin, back at base and listening to it all over the radio, didn’t just worry. He was frantic.

He paced back and forth in the server room, tethered to his computer by the headset he listened to so desperately. He didn’t notice when Ray showed up a while later, too busy begging updates from the three who were waiting for Ryan to get out of surgery. Even Jack was starting to lose her patience when at last Caleb’s voice came through.

“He’s all stitched up. None of the shots were too serious, but he’s out of commission for a while. I’m going to keep him overnight, and you can pick him up tomorrow. Don’t let him do anything stupid.”

Gavin swore with relief and collapsed back into his chair.

All in all it was a thoroughly exhausting afternoon. Geoff and Michael took the loot someplace safe and laid low at one of their flophouses for the night. Jack went to her own apartment to relax with B-movies and a bottle of Chardonnay. Ray stayed in his room at base, unwinding in his own particular fashion. The faint scent of pot smoke got on Gavin’s nerves and, together with the growing tension in his mind, drove him out of the building. As he left he picked up the box with Ryan’s present in it, carrying it gingerly down to the garage.

He drove to the clinic on autopilot, heartbeat increasing with every block. By the time he was standing outside he was trembling, trying to breathe deep and not run away like he’d done so many times before. He couldn’t put it off any longer, not when he’d come so close to losing Ryan that day. And besides, it had been a shitty birthday; with any luck, a gift might cheer him up. Even laughing at the dolt who’d fallen in love with an assassin would be an improvement.

Gavin winced at the thought, and opened the door before he could talk himself out of it.

Ryan lay in a hospital bed, watching the news report of their hijinks that day. Apart from the bandages wrapped around his ribs and thigh, he looked fine. The hospital gown was a little funny, but Gavin was too distracted to laugh or even ogle the body he’d been dreaming about for so long. Instead he coughed to make his presence known, and stepped carefully forward until he stood at Ryan’s side.

“Hey, Gav,” the injured man said easily, as though he hadn’t been staring death in the face mere hours ago. “What’s up?”

All at once, the words dried up on Gavin’s tongue. He made a small, strangled noise that might have been “happy birthday” and shoved his gift at Ryan, blushing uncontrollably.

His crewmate took the box, but paid it no mind. He was focused on Gavin’s face, blue eyes worried and expressive brow furrowed with concern.

“What’s wrong?”

“Just… just open the bloody thing, Ry.”

Ryan looked at him solemnly for another few seconds, noting every twitch. Then a tiny smile quirked at his lips, and he turned his attention to the present in his hands.

Unwrapping it seemed to take an eternity. Gavin would have bounced with impatience had he not been frozen in place, throat tight, hoping against hope that he wasn’t making the biggest mistake of his life…

A sharp intake of breath made his heart jump.

Ryan turned the delicate sculpture so he could see it from every angle. A dozen bullets flowered in a perfect spray, balanced on slender copper stems sprouted with thin steel leaves. They were arranged in a small, plain steel vase that Gavin had brushed to a smooth satin finish, and "planted" in a bed of spent shell casings.

 

“I, uh. I thought you might like it.”

“Gavin, this is beautiful,” Ryan murmured, admiring it a little longer before looking up to smile at him. “What brought this on?”

Gavin stared like a deer in the headlights, unable to formulate an answer, until he noticed the mischievous twinkle in those deep blue eyes. Exquisite, joyful relief flooded him even as he drew back indignantly.

“You bloody bastard, you _knew_ , didn’t you!”

“I had an idea,” Ryan admitted slyly. “But I wasn’t sure until just now.”

The hacker sputtered. After all the pining, all the anxiety, it had turned out to be like falling through an open door. He hadn’t been prepared for this.

He stood there like a stringless puppet as Ryan swung himself to the edge of the bed and put his good foot on the floor. From there the assassin reached out a hand to gently draw Gavin forward.

“You know we can’t let this get in the way of work,” he said, smirking. “I’m pretty sure Geoff would kill us.”

Gavin blinked, still not entirely caught up. “…This?”

By way of explanation Ryan pulled him close, and his mind blanked out completely.


End file.
